Choosing and owning a pet

• Can your lifestyle, activities, hobbies, holidays, other priorities adjust to fit a pet?
• Is there enough space?
• Can you securely confine your pet?
• Can you provide adequate shelter?
• If renting, are you allowed to keep a pet?
• How will you care for your pet if your living arrangements change?
• If you have young children, will you have time to supervise them with a pet?
• How much time can you give to your pet?
• Can you set up separate areas for pets and children?

• Are you prepared to care for a dog or cat for more than ten years?
• Does the breed you are considering require specific care?
• How much time can you devote to caring for your pet for exercise, grooming, obedience, and play?
• Are you prepared to take your pet to the vet regularly?
• Who will look after your pet when you are away?
• What hours do you work and what will you do with your pet while you are at work?
• Are you prepared to confine your cat or dog inside at night (to stop cats from wandering and killing wildlife or to stop dogs from roaming)?
• Can you afford the cost of registration, vaccination, general health care, vet bills, food, grooming, de-sexing, obedience training and boarding?

Kittens and puppies

If you are thinking about getting a kitten or puppy, can you:

• provide daytime care and meals at regular intervals until it is six months old?
• confine your pet in suitable accommodation for the first three weeks to help it settle into its new home?
• keep your pet away from other animals until after their first vaccinations?

Costs can include:

• purchase of the pet
• housing, feeding
• microchipping and registration
• vet checks, vaccinations, worming, tick and flea treatments
• unplanned medical treatment
• pet insurance
• desexing
• grooming, training, boarding
• toys, leashes, collars, name tag.

Teach your children the dos and don'ts when interacting with dogs.

Do:

• approach a dog slowly with the back of your hand extended
• curl your fingers and allow the dog to sniff your hand
• stand still, like a fence post, if approached by a strange dog
• avoid eye contact with the dog.

Don't:

• approach a strange dog without permission from the owner
• approach dogs that are sleeping or eating
• squeal or jump around an unfamiliar dog.

If you decide a pet will suit your household and lifestyle, consider rehoming a cat or dog from our animal shelter or a rescue organisation.

You do not have to pay a lifetime registration fee if you rehome a cat or dog from our animal shelter.

Many healthy animals are euthanised (put to sleep) because suitable homes cannot be found.

If you are buying a cat or dog from a breeder or pet shop, make sure that:

• the breeder or pet shop is reputable
• their establishment and practices comply with the Animal Welfare Code of Practice – Breeding Dogs and Cats,
  or
• Animal Welfare Code of Practice – Animals in Pet Shops.

When you bring your pet home, help it to slowly adjust to your household, its new surroundings and routine.

You are responsible for:

• registering your dog or cat with Council by the time it is six months of age
• microchipping your dog or cat by 12 weeks of age, or before it's sold or given away, whichever happens first
• making sure your pet's information, including address, is up to date on the NSW Pet Registry.

Microchipping and registration allow the return of a stray animal to its owner. This minimises trauma to the animal and owner.

Penalties apply if you do not register and microchip your pet.

Desex your animals if you do not plan to breed them - neutered animals make better, more contented pets.

Desexed animals:

• are less stressed by reproductive or territorial demands
• have increased health and wellbeing
• are cheaper to register.

Cats will not wander or fight as much and are quieter and less odorous when desexed.

Uncontrolled breeding contributes to large numbers of unwanted cats joining the stray and feral populations. Most suffer through disease and injury, and many prey on native wildlife to survive.

Your neighbours can make a complaint if your dog barks excessively.

A Council Ranger will discuss the problem with you and offer advice on what you can do about it. If the problem continues and the Ranger thinks you are not making genuine attempts to stop your dog barking, Council can issue a fine.

• Find out more about managing barking dogs

Your neighbours have a right to enjoy their property without your dog or cat wandering around.

Wandering cats can kill birds and wildlife and start fights; wandering dogs can dig up gardens, chase animals and scare or even attack people.

If a neighbour asks you to stop your dog or cat wandering onto their property, you must do so.

Penalties apply if you do not control your pet.

Dogs

• It is an offence to let your dog wander on its own outside your property.
• You must ensure your dog is confined to your property, except when you're exercising your dog on a leash or it's under effective control.
• Dogs are curious and have a natural instinct to wander. A wandering dog is in danger of being injured by a car or other dogs.
• If you are the owner of a wandering dog, Council can issue you a fine.

Cats

• You must confine your cat to your property, especially at night.
• Confining your cat will keep it safe from accidents and cat fights and helps protect native nocturnal wildlife from your cat.
• It is an offence to let your cat wander onto private property against the owner/occupier's wishes.
• Find out more about how to prevent your cat from wandering.

If your cat or dog has died, you must let us know within 28 days (or 24 hours in the case of a restricted dog, dangerous or menacing dog) of its death.

You can notify us:

• by phone: 02 4474 1019
• by email: Council Rangers
• by post: Eurobodalla Shire Council, PO Box 99, Moruya NSW 2537.

In the case of a restricted or declared dangerous dog, we may ask you to provide written evidence from a vet that your dog has died.

To keep our environment clean, healthy and safe, we have imposed limits on the number of animals you can keep on your property. The numbers listed are per property:

• Dogs: two adults and one litter of pups up to six months old - in urban areas
• Dogs (greyhounds): four adults and one litter of pups up to 13 months old - in rural areas
• Dogs other than greyhounds: four adults and one litter of pups up to six months old - in rural areas
• Cats: four
• Rabbits: one
• Ferrets: two
• Horses: two - in urban areas
• Poultry, domestic and guinea fowl: ten
• Poultry other than fowls, including ducks, geese and turkeys: five
• Swine, goats, sheep: two - kept in urban areas
• Birds other than pigeons, poultry, and domestic and guinea fowls: the maximum number of birds allowed to be kept in urban areas is as appropriate for the species, enclosure size and proximity to neighbours

Our Local Orders Policy – Keeping of Animals provides guidelines on the number and type of animals you can keep on your property:

• Local Orders Policy – Keeping of Animals (308.4 KB)

Companion Animals Act 1998

• The Companion Animals Act 1998 (the Act) benefits pets, their owners and the wider community. The aim of the Act is to provide for the effective and responsible care and management of companion animals.
• If you want to own a pet, you have responsibilities such as permanent identification and registration, which helps Council to return lost and injured animals to their owners.
• Annual permits are required for certain animals.
• You also have a responsibility to control your dog while in a public place.
• If you are concerned about the health and welfare of an animal, the RSPCA is the most appropriate authority to contact.

Companion Animals Management Plan

Council developed the Companion Animals Management Plan (the plan) to balance community amenity, animal welfare and environmental preservation.

The plan also promotes the benefits of responsible pet ownership and effective companion animal management.

The main items relevant to the plan are to:

• acknowledge general duties and responsibilities to manage domestic dog and cat animal issues in the Eurobodalla
• ensure that Council meets its responsibilities under the Companion Animals Act 1998 and Companion Animals Regulation 2018
• achieve a balance between the needs of pet owners and non-pet owners
• provide pet owners with support, education, regulation and facilities to accommodate their pets within the broader community and environment.

Read the plan

• Companion Animal Management Plan 2018 (155.4 KB)

Any dog can attack, even your own dog or one you're familiar with.

If you are involved in a dog attack, you should notify us:

• Online Dog Attack or Menacing Dog Report

Adults

• Dog attacks on adults are caused mostly by dogs outside their owner's property.
• Keeping your dog securely confined to your property and following the rules of responsible pet ownership will help prevent your dog attacking someone.

Children

• Dog attacks on children occur mostly in the yard of their own home or another person's home.
• Dogs usually attack or bite out of fear or an attempt to dominate. Children are often vulnerable targets for a dog attack, even from a dog they know and love. They may provoke aggressive behaviour by challenging the dog or intruding into its personal space without realising.
• Most injuries to children occur on the head or face.
• Always supervise your dog around children.
• Teach your children not to:
  • put their faces close to a dog's mouth
  • hug dogs tightly or tease them
  • pat a strange dog, or a dog that is: tied up, left in a car or eating.

The terms 'restricted', 'dangerous', and 'menacing' have specific legal meanings. There are certain rules that owners of these dogs must follow. These include:

• The dog must be desexed, microchipped and registered.
• Owners must pay a $230 annual permit fee, and a one-off lifetime pet registration fee, which they can pay on the NSW Pet Registry website or at Council.
• The dog must not, at any time, be in the sole charge of a person under the age of 18 years.
• At home, the owner must keep the dog in a certified purpose-built enclosure, and display warning signs on the property.
• The dog must wear a securely fitted muzzle when outside its enclosure (at home or in a public place).
• When outside the enclosure, the dog must wear a distinctive red and yellow striped collar. The owner must walk the dog on a secure chain or lead at all times.
• The owner must notify Council of the following within 24 hours if the dog:
  • has attacked or injured a person or animal
  • is lost or missing
  • has died
  • is kept at a different address in the Eurobodalla
  • is kept outside the Eurobodalla Shire area.

Menacing dogs: Owners must comply with the same control requirements as dangerous dogs; except they do not need to keep menacing dogs in a purpose-built enclosure at home.

More information

• Read more about dangerous and menacing dogs.
• Report a dog attack or menacing dog.

Talk to your neighbour first

If you have a genuine problem with your neighbour's pet, start by talking about your concerns with your neighbour.

Approach the topic in a friendly and constructive way. Your neighbour may not realise their pet is being a nuisance and may be as interested as you are to solve the problem.

Try to work together to find a mutual solution.

Make a complaint to Council

If talking to your neighbour doesn't work, you can contact us. We will follow-up legitimate concerns, but we will need your help. You should be prepared to:

• give your name and address to us
• put your concerns in writing to your neighbours in the case of an unwanted dog or cat on your property
• keep records of the incidents, for example, keep a diary of how often a cat comes into your garden or when you see a dog wandering on its own up the street
• sign a Statutory Declaration of your complaint if we ask you to
• be a witness if court prosecution becomes necessary.

When outside of your home, you must pick up your dog's droppings.

Dog poo in our streets, parks and public areas is harmful to public health and the environment.

Dog poo can end up in stormwater drains and pollute our waterways and make public places less enjoyable.

It is your responsibility to carry a plastic bag or other pooper scooper to clean up and dispose of your dog's droppings.

Council can issue a fine for not cleaning up after your dog.

You can use our map to find suitable places to exercise your dog. There are also signs at the entry points to beaches and exercise areas to let you know where and when you can take your dog.

Most Eurobodalla beaches and exercise areas allow these three types of access:

• 24-hour off-leash: dogs allowed off-leash at all times
• Timeshare, which means:
  • from 1 May to 31 October: dogs allowed at the designated area at any time.
  • from 1 November to 30 April:
    • dogs allowed on or off-leash before 9am and after 5pm
    • dogs prohibited during the day from 9am to 5pm
• Prohibited: dogs not allowed at all times